© Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, Volume 16, Number 1, p. 97, (2012) Copyright © 2012 by the University of Georgia. All rights reserved. ISSN 1534-6104 Engaged Scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Campus Integration and Faculty Development Lynn W. Blanchard, Ronald P. Strauss, and Lucille Webb Abstract The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under- took faculty development activities to increase awareness of community-engaged scholarship through campus dialogue and by assisting faculty members in acquiring skills for com- munity-engaged scholarship. This article presents a case report describing activities and their impact. The activities informed campus-wide initiatives on promotion and tenure as well as the development of the university’s new academic plan. Two lessons learned from the university’s community-engaged scholarship faculty development activities include (1) incorporating these activities into existing campus programs helps institutionalize them, and (2) implementing these activities within broader institution-wide initiatives helps those initiatives and provides a wider forum for promoting community-engaged scholarship. Introduction he University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) has a long tradition of service to the state of North Carolina. The University of North Carolina’s public service mis- Tsion was articulated almost 100 years ago under the leadership of President Edward Kidder Graham. In 1914, he declared that uni- versity public service is “the radiating power of a new passion,” which goes far beyond “thinly stretching out its resources” to the state. North Carolina was recovering from the Civil War, and the university embraced “the state and all its practical problems” as a legitimate field of study and service (Graham, 1919, pp. 14–15). For many years, the University of North Carolina’s slogan was “Write to the University When You Need Help” (Wilson, 1976, p. 136), and the university “thought of itself as a telephone central which connected those interested in being served with those who could provide the service” (Wilson, 1957, p. 210). This passion for service influenced the work of leaders Frank Porter Graham, Bill Friday, and Howard Odum as well as generations of faculty members who applied their considerable talents to solving public problems. The University of North Carolina’s commitment to improving North Carolina has become a defining characteristic, and it has created a special bond with the people in the state. 98 Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement The tradition of service for the common good in this non-land- grant flagship university has evolved into a commitment to deeper engagement that involves mutually beneficial partnerships between the university and communities in North Carolina and beyond. Partnerships between the University of North Carolina and communities have fueled impressive scholarship, economic devel- opment and entrepreneurship. This article is a case study of how the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill deliberately undertook activities to pro- mote engaged scholarship through faculty development and other campus-wide efforts. Setting the Context Over the last decade, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has moved to strengthen its commitment to addressing prac- tical problems facing society. The influential report of the Kellogg Commission, Returning to Our Roots—The Engaged Institution, encouraged universities to “become even more sympathetically and productively involved with their communities, however commu- nity may be defined” (1999, p. 9). Former Chancellor James Moeser (2000–2008), who helped create the Kellogg report while chan- cellor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, led the University of North Carolina to become an “engaged” university in keeping with the Kellogg report to “envision partnerships [as] two-way streets defined by mutual respect among the partners for what each brings to the table” (1999, p.13). In an address at the 10th anniversary cel- ebration of the William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education, Chancellor Moeser (2001) echoed earlier generations of campus leaders, stating, “Service and engagement must be an integral part of a university’s life, not something we practice if we have extra time or if the mood strikes us or if our schedule permits or if it happens to be convenient. We must consider it an obligation and a responsibility, something that we owe society.” Established in 1999 from one of the recommendations of the Chancellor’s Intellectual Climate Task Force, the Carolina Center for Public Service (CCPS) is a pan-university center administra- tively located in the Office of the Provost. The Center’s mission is to engage and support the faculty, students and staff of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in meeting the needs of North Carolina and beyond. The Center strengthens the University’s public service commit- ment by promoting scholarship and service that are Engaged Scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 99 responsive to the concerns of the state and contribute to the common good. (Carolina Center for Public Service website, 2011) The center is home to several campus programs promoting engaged scholarship and service—connecting the university’s tri- partite mission of teaching, research and service. These programs include the Assisting People in Planning Learning Experience in Service (APPLES) Service-Learning Program, a student-initiated, student-led and student-funded organization established in 1990. APPLES, working with faculty members from across campus, now supports more than 100 service-learning courses annually, and its activities include an annual Course Development Institute for Service-Learning for faculty members and graduate instructors. In 2003, the university adopted its first 5-year academic plan, with six academic priorities, including several directly related to engagement (specifically, priorities B and E): B. Further integrate interdisciplinary research, educa- tion and public service. E. Enhance public engagement. (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2003) In 2004, five faculty members and administrators from the UNC School of Dentistry and the Office of the Provost repre- sented the university in the Community-Engaged Scholarship for Health Collaborative of Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH). This 3-year initiative was focused on increasing rewards and incentives for faculty pursuing community-engaged scholarship (Seifer, Wong, Gelmon, & Lederer, 2009). During the time UNC participated, members of the School of Dentistry revised the school’s guidelines for promotion and tenure to encompass com- munity-engaged scholarship, and team members helped author an article regarding competencies for community-engaged scholar- ship for faculty development (Blanchard et al., 2009). The commitment of academic leaders, supportive organiza- tional structures and inclusive promotion and tenure policies have been identified as key to institutionalizing support, recognition and reward for community-engaged scholarship (Bringle, Hatcher, & Holland, 2007; Holland, 1997; Sandmann, Saltmarsh, & O’Meara, 2008). 100 Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Activities to Support Community-Engaged Scholarship Concurrent with participation in the Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) Community-Engaged Scholarship for Health Collaborative from 2004 through 2007, the Carolina Center for Public Service was developing programmatic activities to support and further community-engaged scholarship across the campus. The first Campus Dialogue on Engagement was held in 2007 to gather faculty input for a new community-engaged schol- arship faculty development program. That input was incorporated into the Faculty Engaged Scholars Program, which identified the first class of scholars through a competitive process in fall 2007 to begin the program in January 2008. As a result of involvement in the Community-Engaged Scholarship for Health Collaborative, UNC was asked to partner with Community-Campus Partnerships for Health and the University of Minnesota in the development of the Faculty for the Engaged Campus initiative, which is described in more detail else- where in this issue of the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement (Seifer, Blanchard, Jordan, Gelmon & McGinley 2012). Both the timing of the initiative and the focus on community-engaged scholarship faculty development were ideal for helping inform and further UNC’s campus efforts. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill hosted and participated in the Community-Engaged Scholarship Faculty Development Charrette for the Faculty for the Engaged Campus initiative in May 2008, described elsewhere in this issue (Gelmon, Blanchard, Ryan, & Seifer, 2012). UNC also submitted a proposal for a 2-year Faculty for the Engaged Campus grant to implement the team’s action plan developed at the charrette. A timeline of the campus activities and programs discussed in this article is presented in Table 1. Engaged Scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 101 Table 1. Community-Engaged Scholarship at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Chronology of Events and Programs Date Event/Program 1999 Carolina Center for Public Service established 2003 First campus academic plan 2004-2007 CCPH Community-Engaged Scholarship for